Radetic hurried on to his employers quarters.

What happened? Yousif demanded as soon as he had determined that Harouns wound was minor. He had cleared his tent of the usual hangers-on. Haroun, you tell it first.

The boy was too frightened to stretch the truth. I...I used my blow tube. To hit his horse. I didnt know he would get hurt.

Megelin?

Thats the gist of it. A practical joke, in poor taste. Id blame the examples set by his elders. I did, however, hear mention of Sabbah i Hassan beforehand.

How so?

In the context, I believe, of a similar stunt. Your children, you know, are even more primitive and literal-minded than the rest of you.

Haroun? Is that true?

Huh?

Did you do the same thing to Sabbah i Hassan?

Radetic smiled thinly as he watched the boy struggle with the lie trying to break out of the prison of his mouth. Yes, Father.

Fuad returned to the tent. He seemed to have calmed down.

Teacher?

Wahlig?

What the hell were they doing running the streets? They were supposed to be in class.

Be serious, Yousif, Fuad interjected. Dont tell me youre already too old to remember being young. The Wahlig was forty-one. Its Disharhun. The woman wore no veil. You think the man is a miracle worker?

Radetic was amazed. Fuad had made it plain that he thought any teacher who did not teach the use of weapons was superfluous. A warrior chieftain needed no other education. Scribes and accountants could be enslaved.

Moreover, he disliked Radetic personally.

What had put him into so good a mood? It worried Radetic.

Haroun.

The boy approached his father reluctantly, took his spanking without crying. And without contrition.

Yousif was angry. He never punished his children before outsiders. And yet...Radetic suspected that his employer was not entirely displeased.

Now go find your brothers. Tell them to get back here and stay out of trouble.

The boy ran out. Yousif looked at Fuad. Bold little brat, isnt he?

His fathers son, I think. You were the same.

Haroun was Yousifs favorite, though the Wahlig hid it well. Radetic suspected that he had been hired specifically for the benefit of the one boy. The others had been tossed into his classes in a vain hope that a patina of wisdom might stick.

Haroun would have preferred a scholarly life. When away from older brothers he showed the temperament. In fact, he had told Radetic that he wanted to be like him when he grew up. Megelin had been pleased and embarrassed.

For a six-year-old Haroun showed remarkable determination to pursue the mission decreed for him by an accident of birth. He acted twice his age. He was possessed of a stern, stolid fatalism seldom seen in anyone under thirty.

Megelin Radetic hurt a lot for the fated child.

Fuad bubbled over. Yousif, this is the break weve been waiting for. This time hes given us a good, rock-hard excuse.